Everyone is invited to attend!
Manitoba Neuroscience Network
Seminar Series
Friday, February 28th, 2014
9:00 am
PX236/238 PsychHealth Bldg.
Dr. V. Wee Yong
Professor, Canada Research Chair in Nueroimmunology
Hotchkiss Brain Institute and Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Oncology
University of Calgary
Topic: Overcoming inhibitors in the lesion microenvironment for CNS regeneration.
Biosketch: Dr. V. Wee Yong is a Professor at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute and the Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Oncology at The University
of Calgary. He co-directs the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Program of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, providing the basic science leadership, and he holds the Canada Research Chair in Neuroimmunology. Dr. Yong received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, and started his faculty appointment at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, in 1989. He located to Calgary in 1996. Dr. Yong’s research interests lie in the area of neuroimmunology, neuroprotection and CNS regeneration, and his
projects have been guided by MS, spinal cord injury and malignant gliomas. Dr. Yong has published 230 peer-reviewed manuscripts and his research has been translated into clinical trials in MS and spinal cord injury. His work has been cited over 12,000 times
by other authors in scientific publications. In 2003, Dr. Yong was awarded the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Year Medallion for volunteer activities on behalf of the MS Society of Canada. In 2010, Dr. Yong was elected a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences,
a top honor for those working in the medical sciences. Dr. Yong is the immediate past chair of the Medical Advisory Committee of the MS Society of Canada, he directs the Alberta endMS Regional Research and Training Center, and he is on the editorial board
of 7 international journals. In 2012, Dr. Yong was elected by an international community to be the Vice President of the International Society of Neuroimmunology; he will become its President in 2014.
Brief description of research interests:
Neuroimmunology is the study of inflammation in the nervous system. Virtually all neurological disorders have inflammatory components, and these
include diseases traditionally associated with overt inflammation, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), and those previously thought to be purely degenerative, including Alzheimer’s disease. Neuroinflammation originates from the trafficking of several leukocyte
subsets into the nervous system and through the production of immune molecules by neural cells themselves. The interaction between leukocytes and neural cells further promotes neuroinflammation and injury. In recent years, reparative properties of neuroinflammation
have been appreciated, so that the balance between beneficial and detrimental neuroinflammation is a crucial determinant of outcome. My research projects have been guided by 3 diseases of the central nervous system (CNS): MS, spinal cord injury (SCI) and brain
tumors (malignant gliomas). MS and SCI provide my research program with diseases of chronic and acute neuroinflammation, respectively. In contrast, malignant gliomas present a disease of immunosuppression, whereby the cancer cells neutralize the activity of
leukocytes that infiltrate into these tumors. My research has been translated into clinical trials in MS and in spinal cord injury. Collectively, my studies of neuroimmunology are aimed at understanding, controlling and tipping the balance of neuroinflammation
towards one of neuroprotection and regeneration from CNS insults.
Presented in co-operation with
University of Manitoba
Clinical Neuroscience Rounds
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Division of Neurodegenerative Disorders, St. Boniface Hospital Research
Neuroscience Seminar Series
Friday, February 28th2014
12:00 Noon
500 John Buhler Research Centre - Bannatyne Campus
Dr. Bruce Perkins
Associate Professor, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
University of Toronto & Clinician Scientist, Lunenfeld Tanenbaum
Research Institute, Leadership Sinai Centre for Diabetes,
Mount Sinai Hospital
Topic: The Identification of Diabetic Neuropathy in type 1 Diabetes
Biosketch: Bruce A Perkins, MD MPH is Associate Professor and Endocrinologist at the University of Toronto, and a Diabetes Complications Clinician-Scientist. He obtained
his MD and Internal Medicine training at the University of Toronto, his endocrinology subspecialty training at Harvard University, his Masters of Public Health in Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health, and a research fellowship in epidemiology
at the Joslin Diabetes Center. In 2003 he was appointed at the Toronto General Hospital and earned a Canadian Diabetes Association early career personnel award for his work in diabetic neuropathy.
His clinical practice has focused on type 1 diabetes management, and he directed the formation of an insulin pump program at the UHN. His research work has focused on clinical biomarkers for the early stages of
diabetes complications using longitudinal cohort methods as well as clinical trials. Highlights are “Early GFR Loss” as a predictive marker for risk of advanced kidney disease using serial cystatin C analysis and the concept of in-vivo Corneal Confocal Microscopy
as a method to analyze the small fiber morphological abnormalities that predict diabetic neuropathy. His clinical trial work in insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring interventions has contributed to refinements in type 1 diabetes care. He is active
on national and international diabetes clinical practice guideline committees including Microvascular Chair on the CDA’s 2013 Clinical Practice Guidelines Steering Committee. He has received funding from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Canadian
Diabetes Association, CIHR, and the Banting and Best Diabetes Center and is a member of the JDRF’s Canadian Clinical Trial Network. He is initiating a JDRF-funded nation-wide cohort study to determine factors associated with longevity in type 1 diabetes.
Presented in co-operation with
Manitoba Institute of Child Health
Kelly Jorundson
Winnipeg Chapter Society for Neuroscience
R4046 – 351 Tache Avenue
Winnipeg, MB R2H 2A6
Email:
wcsn@sbrc.ca Website: www.sfn-manitoba.ca